Dunyazad is the younger sister of Queen Scheherazade. In the story cycle, it is she who—at Scheherazade’s instruction—initiates the tactic of cliffhanger storytelling to prevent her sister’s execution by Shahryar. Dunyazad, brought to her sister’s bedchamber so that she could say farewell before Scheherazade’s execution the next morning, asks her sister to tell one last story. At the successful conclusion of the tales, Dunyazad marries Shah Zaman, Shahryar’s younger brother.
Appearance List One Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights with first English-language edition c. 1706–1721
Sample Read The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales by Smith, Wiggin, and Parrish [PG]
Description Dunyazad is the younger sister of Queen Scheherazade. In the story cycle, it is she who—at Scheherazade’s instruction—initiates the tactic of cliffhanger storytelling to prevent her sister’s execution by Shahryar. Dunyazad, brought to her sister’s bedchamber so that she could say farewell before Scheherazade’s execution the next morning, asks her sister to tell one last story. At the successful conclusion of the tales, Dunyazad marries Shah Zaman, Shahryar’s younger brother.
